Guild Wars 2 - one click information access!

– Gone are the days of looking for a symbol above an NPCs head to tell you exactly where to go just as everyone else has before you. Content in GW2 is generated by the Dynamic Event

Dynamic events refer to any event that occurs in a persistent area as a result of players interacting with and exploring the world. They are called "dynamic" because there are multiple outcomes that also result in new events, creating a cascade effect. Once an event has triggered, it will develop whether or not a player attends it. Because of this, there is no real concept of failure or success – the result of any event will simply cause a change in the surrounding area. For example, if monsters are successful in raiding an area, they may become strong enough to occupy a fort, which could then be taken by players.

Events are designed to replace traditional MMORPG quests - players are notified when there is a new event nearby rather than looking for an NPC with an exclamation mark over their head. Traditional quests have negative repercussions such as spawn camping and kill stealing. Guild Wars 2's dynamic events prevent these issues by promoting player cooperation by rewarding all players that participate in the event 100% of any experience gained without the need to form a party. To keep a consistent level of difficulty along with increased participation, an event will scale dynamically based on the number of active participants. Not all events require combat to complete.

system that is completely persistent and changes how everyone in the world sees content based on your action or in-action.

– No more trading blows with a mob in whack-a-mole combat. Damage in the game is avoidable, if an enemy is lining up a big spell, you can dodge it and keep on fighting. Positioning relative to your enemy and your allies will be a key factor during combat, among other things.

– ArenaNet has built an entire underwater combat system, no more breath bar to manage, quick and fluid movement in water and entire weapon and skill sets to go along with it.

– Dead. Gone. And good riddance. There are no defined class roles in GW2. It’s not fun to hope that one person logs in so that you can actually play a game. You can generally take any combination of professions that you wish into content and succeed in the same time-frame as any other as long as you communicate.

Boons are a set of effects that are the positive counterpart to conditions. Age of Conan players should associate the term boons with: Buffs. The duration of boons can be stacked, but their effectiveness does not stack. For example, if a 10 second regeneration buff was placed on an ally with 5 seconds of regeneration still remaining, that ally would not gain extra regeneration but the buff would have 15 seconds remaining.

Vigor: Vigor is a boon that increases endurance regeneration by 100%. Endurance is used for active dodging.

Conditions

A condition is a negative effect that can be inflicted against enemies. Currently, only through the use of skills and affecting traits can players utilise conditions. Certain conditions can stack, commonly providing a longer lasting condition than normal or an increase in damage dealt over time. When a condition is removed using a skill, the entire stack of that condition is removed.

In particular to ex Age of Conan players, the term "conditions" summarize what we use to call: "dots", "debuffs" and "crowd control".

Examples of conditions:

Bleeding: Bleeding is a stackable condition that deals damage over time. Bleeding can stack up to 9 times and it stacks in intensity.

Blind: non-stacking condition that causes the target's next attack to miss.

Fear: causes an enemy to be interrupted and run directly away from the player for a short period of time, usually 2 seconds (up to 5s in PvE).

Immobilized: hinders movement and prevents dodging.

Poison: deals damage over time and reduces outgoing heals by 33%. Stacks in duration.

Vulnerability: lowers the target's armor. Stacks in duration.

Weakness: causes attacks to result in a glancing blow (about 50-75% reduced hit) 50% of the time and slows endurance regeneration.

In your travels you’ll come across many different types of environmental weapons that you can use. Say you’re out and about, you might come across an Oakheart. When you kill it, it might drop an Oakheart branch that would replace the skills in your skillbar with new ones. Thieves are able to steal a branch from the Oakheart without having to kill it first (see the Thief section for more on stealing). If you come across a turret, you can get inside of it and your skillbar changes so that you can control it as well as fire it. Some weapons are created from player skills like the Warrior’s banners and the Elementalist’s conjure. Some items aren’t weapons at all, but objects that serve certain purposes. There’s even a Hazmat Suit you can buy with Karma that puts the player inside of this armored mech golem suit, you gain 2,000 extra health points and stay inside until you drop to 0 HP or leave the suit.Some environmental weapons can also behave differently based on the class who is wielding it. There are enemies that will throw environmental weapons at the player that you can then go and pick up to use against the aforementioned enemy. An example of this would be a Stone Elemental, if they throw a boulder at you, you could run over and pick it up and as an Elementalist you could throw it into the air and have it come raining down as a meteor.

– At character creation you get to choose from a wide variety of biographical entries based on your race that will affect your personal story. ArenaNet aims to put the hero and identity back into the MMO genre rather than just a character sheet. For more info click here.

– There’s 2 flavors of PvP, one is the Arena style combat that GW1 is currently known for, the competitive style. The second kind is World vs World vs World where 3 servers are pit against each other every 2 weeks to battle it out across 4 persistent maps filled with 2,000 people that involve capture points, resource gathering, castle sieging, etc.

– You never have to worry about your friend being too high of a level for you to play with him, you can sidekick up to his level or he can sidekick down to yours so you guys can play together no matter each others level.

– There’s no exponential leveling curve in GW2, it’s linear and plateaus quickly. ANet aims to kill that “I have to grind so I can play the game” feeling you get in other MMOs.

– It amazes me that not only is ArenaNet working to change how we view MMOs, but they’re still not including a monthly fee.

– I nearly forgot, YES, you can jump. ArenaNet has built a fully realized 3D world for you to roam around in.

Dynamic events refer to any event that occurs in a persistent area as a result of players interacting with and exploring the world. They are called "dynamic" because there are multiple outcomes that also result in new events, creating a cascade effect. Once an event has triggered, it will develop whether or not a player attends it. Because of this, there is no real concept of failure or success – the result of any event will simply cause a change in the surrounding area. For example, if monsters are successful in raiding an area, they may become strong enough to occupy a fort, which could then be taken by players

The event system is built around regular events and unusual "easter egg" events. The intent is that at any one time, a player cannot know exactly what state the world is in and what one might see wandering around.

Dynamic events are cyclical in nature and the events are generally chained together. Events do not necessarily follow a fixed schedule, and may only trigger if certain conditions are met - for example, if a snow storm strikes an area, or if night falls on a graveyard. Once an event has triggered, it will continue to progress whether or not players participate in that event. Although the cyclical nature of the system means that consequences are ultimately temporary, event results can persist for days, weeks, or even months until a player comes along and does something to progress the chain of events.Each event has an NPC associated with it with whom the player can talk to learn more about the story and lore behind the event.

The foremost requirement of an event is being in the right place at the right time. Events can be discovered in a number of ways, such as exploring the world, conversing with non-player characters, and approaching the heart-shaped goal markers provided by a scout. Whenever a player comes within range of a new event, a New Event Nearby notification appears on screen along with an event assistant entry on the right-hand side. In the cases where the event occurs above or below the player, for example up a mountain or while swimming, a marker is used to indicate an up or down direction. The player map is also updated with a variety of event-related markers for as long as a player is within the event's range. Should a player wander away from the event, any progress made is retained until the player returns to the event or the event concludes.

Event indicators

Text color:

Green events: - are the ones tied to the character's personal storyline.

Yellow events

Orange events

Red events

Brushstroke: An event is affecting the encompassed area.

Event shield: An area or NPC must be protected from harm.

Event swords: An issue that must be resolved by force.

Event boss: A specific foe that must be vanquished.

Star: A service or assistance that needs to be provided.

Event collect: A task involving collecting or gathering.

Master craftsman: An area that must be held or claimed.

This is also used to indicate master craftsmen NPCs.

Event cog: Use currently unknown.

As more players actively participate in an event, the events themselves may scale upwards by:

Increasing the number of monsters.

Increasing the level of the monsters.

Unlocking new abilities for the monsters to use.

Most events scale for up to 10 players; participation, not level, is the determinant for event scaling. Special large group events, such as The Shatterer fight, scale for up to 100 players.

Separate from event scaling, Elite Events are different in complexity and/or difficulty from other events of the surrounding area. Elite Events are listed in the event assist as [Elite Event], and like other events are marked on the map and compass.

Event rewards

An event is completed with a 'gold-level' reward.

Once an event is completed, everyone who actively participated will receive rewards according to the level of individual participation. To maintain the emphasis on the event system rather than specific events, loot will never be included as a reward. Reward levels are divided into three groups of increasing reward: bronze, silver, and gold.

Karma is a non-tradable reward received by participating in events and helping others with their personal storyline. It is primarily used to develop a character's personality. Karma can also be used to buy items from certain NPCs.Almost everything which is attainable by using karma is also purchasable using coin

Currency is any item which is accumulated to make purchases either with NPCs or other players. The most basic form of currency is coin, but karma can also be used to purchase items.Coin is the most widely accepted form of game currency. It has three different units: bronze silver and gold . How much coin you currently carry is indicated on the bottom right hand side of the inventory window. Coin can be traded between players.

Players are still rewarded even if they don't accomplish the win goal of an event, although not as well. For example, if players fail to stop centaurs from pillaging an outpost, they will still receive a reward for participating, so they don't feel as if they just wasted their time.

Ben Miller wrote ...With karma that you get from events you participate in, there’s merchants all around the world that will give you different items: kits that help you salvage crafting materials, consumable items that give you temporary bonuses, bundle items that allow you to do things you’d not usually be able to do. For example there’s a hive of bees. You help this beehive from bears that are attacking. You get some karma. There’s a beekeeper there who will for karma sell you a jar of bees that can then take and throw at your enemies. So rewards for karma are very very different depending on the context and the circumstances. Source: click here

Event manipulation

In order to prevent griefing, ArenaNet has developed an array of methods to stop potential griefers from ruining the fun for players who actively participate in an event:

Events never encourage player conflict, and never have fail conditions that can be triggered by players.

The conditions that may seem to fail an event actually just trigger another series of events.

Higher-leveled players will be de-buffed in areas that are intended for lower leveled players. An example has been given of a level 20 player entering a level 5 area, having their level effectively reduced to 8, allowing them to replay or complete missed content in that particular area, without making it too easy.

Meta-Events are a series of Dynamic Events that come together to tell a story in an area of a zone. Meta-Events can range from anywhere between 5-20+ events that chain and branch in different directions.

A unique UI element on the right side of your screen will always keep you informed as to what the status of the world is given the progress of a Meta-Event. Meta-Events will typically have the largest impact on any given area, ranging from small changes like new vendors to explosions and structures being built in the world by both allied & enemy NPCs alike. Given their impact, MEs also cover more land than a typical Dynamic Events, MEs can take up as much of 25% of a zone and change the world around them based on the outcome.

Elevation

- As events start all around you, you’ll come across times where you might be at a different elevation level than said event. So you’ll get a little arrow indicator next to the event details in the tracker that shows if you’re above or below the event.

When any enemy (AI or player) attacks you, you can actively get away from the attack by double tapping in a direction or using a designated hotkey while moving in a direction, by using a spell that makes your character move like a leap or teleport, or even by simply running away. Dodging drains a "charge" from the dodge bar and currently there's 3 charges in the bar. Once you stop dodging it will then start to recharge. Dodging is something that you’ll have to know when to use and when not to. There are also skills that when "held down" will actively block incoming projectiles from their intended target. So this will allow you to "take a bullet" for other players if the situation arises.

If you are moving in a direction, the dodge will take that into account and dodge in that direction. If you are not moving, you will dodge backward. Dodging now also evades attacks, making it a more effective and understandable way to avoid big creature attacks or to get out of AoE spells.

Every skill in the game has now been added into the animation blending system similar to how the Warrior's Chains work. This makes it so every skill can be chain combo'd like an action game, you don't have to wait for the animation to finish in order to use another skill.

Due to the way targeting enemies works in the game, you don't actually have to target anything to use your skills and also if you use a skill that say has a wide swinging arc, it will hit any target in the trajectory much like an action game, so you're not bound to a single target when using a weapon.

There are a lot of intricate mechanics built into the game where distance plays a large role in combat. Here's some examples:

If a Ranger uses a Longbow, the further away from their target they are the more damage they do, similarly if they use a shortbow the closer they are they'll deal more damage. The Engineer has a skill called Blunderbuss that stacks more bleed effects on an enemy the closer they are to the target and the Flamethrower skill does more damage the closer you are as well.

A Warrior has a Burst skill on each weapon and each one does something different depending on the weapon you're using, but the interesting part is the longer you hold down the button the more damage you do, a stun will last longer, you'll immobilize your target longer, or even do 3 different things entirely per each "level" of adrenaline gained.

There are other combat mechanics to take into consideration as well. The Thief has a skill called Heartseeker that does the following:

Heartseeker seems to have three tiers of damage depending on the targets health. The first tier (paired with lowest damage) when the target is above 66% health, the second when the target is between 66% and 33% (median damage between the two), the third when the target is below 33% (with the highest damage).

The Guardian has a skill called Faithful Strike where you leap at your target and if you hit them, you grant regeneration to your nearby allies.

The Elementalist has a skill called Burning Speed where it allows them to sprint and leave a wall of fire in their wake. When that happens any ally can come up to that wall of fire and use it to inflict extra damage, a Ranger could shoot arrows through it and they would catch on fire, a Warrior could swing their axe and fire would be thrown at your enemies. See the Cross Profession Combos section for more on this.

Many, many skills in the game all have some form of extra condition or effect associated with them, they're not simply skills that just do damage with 1-2 skills that might stun or interrupt like most MMOs.

Each class has 10 skills, now you must be thinking “WTF ONLY 10?” Well it’s not as simple as “only 10”. Every class can do real time weapon switching (thanks PS3!) in combat, this switches your skills based on the weapon you have equipped.

Take the Elementalist for example:

The Elementalist class has attunements you can swap instead of weapons; there are 4 attunements that you can go through. With the way GW2 is setup, you COULD sit there and only use one attunement and wait for cooldowns on them, but if you really want to play an Elementalist to the best of its abilities, you would want to be swapping attunements fairly consistently as to avoid cooldowns on any one attunement type.

The Elementalist can only use one weapon at a time and can't swap due to the attunement mechanic, but they still have access to just as many skills at one time as any other class (20). The Engineer also is unable to weapon swap, but instead they can swap out backpack kits, weapon kits, and turrets.

So the weapon type you have equipped defines the skills you have in your first 5 slots. Say like you have a a Staff equipped, with the 4 attunements that gives you 20 unique spells. If you equip a Dagger & Scepter, that’s another 20 unique spells. Currently the Elementalist can equip 4 different weapons; this doesn’t include their underwater weapon. Say you're a Warrior and you're using a 1h sword in your main hand and a shield in your off-hand, your first 3 skills will be sword skills while your last 2 will be shield skills. This is a bit different for the Thief though, say you're using a pistol & dagger, the first two will be pistol skills, the third will be a combination of the two weapons and the final two will be dagger skills. If you're using a 2h weapon all 5 skills will be from that weapon.

The other 5 skills on the bar are all changeable to whatever you wish; this isn’t locked down at all.

6 - This is always your heal button, you can change this to whatever heal spell you currently have access to.

7-9 - Are your utility skills you can choose from, for the Elementalist this consists of things like Conjuration, ethereal Forms, Glyphs that modify your abilities, and Signets which gives you a passive and active effect once you use it.

0 - On your skill bar is always your Elite skill, for now the only one we’ve seen of the Elementalist is the Form based ability ‘Torando’ which turns you into a tornado that you can move around dealing massive damage and launching enemies into the air.

So for a single weapon build of an Elementalist you’d generally have 44 spells to use. In total with all of the weapons accounted for, you could be managing 139 unique spells based on your second hotbar setup. Ultimately this is something you’ll need to learn because you will be expected to fill any role at any time.

A weapon’s skills are now learned by fighting with that weapon. Because weapon skills are tied to weapon use, there is no reason to visit a trainer and make choices about which ones to unlock. Instead, it makes more sense to learn how to use the weapon by, you know, actually using it.

Non-weapon skills are learned in a different way. The second half of the bar will be unlocked using a collection mechanic similar to Guild Wars. We want players to make fun choices about how they build their character, so the new systems will help promote this.

In PvE and world PvP skills, including most weapon skills, are initially locked.

Weapon skills can be unlocked through killing enemies with a certain weapon.

Elite and utility skills can be unlocked by skill points.

Slot skills must be purchased with skill points accumulated via completion of skill challenges scattered throughout the game in PvE and WvW environments. For utility skills, 5 skills in a tier must be purchased to unlock the next higher tier; for elite skills, 2 skills from the first tier must be purchased to unlock the second tier.

Utility skills:

Tier 1 cost per skill: 1 point (total cost in order to advance to next tier: (1*5) = 5 points)

Tier 2 cost per skill: 3 points (total cost in order to advance to next tier:(3*5) = 15 points)

Tier 3 cost per skill: 6 points

Elite skills:

Tier 1 cost per skill: 10 points (total cost in order to advance to next tier: (2*10) = 20 points)

Tier 2 cost per skill: 30 points

Pet skills and skills given by environmental weapons do not need to be unlocked and are always available to PvE and world PvP players. In structured PvP all skills are available for play without needing to be unlocked first.

The last five skills are known as slot skills, chosen by the player from a pool of skills determined by the player's profession and race. The first of these skills is a dedicated healing skill, the middle three are utility skills, and the last one is an elite skill.

In PvE the utility and elite skill slots are initially locked and unlock as the character progresses through the game. The utility slots unlock at levels 7, 11 and 20. The elite slot unlocks at level 30.

Weapon Swapping

– In combat you’re going to be expected to swap your weapon sets to maximize your effectiveness. A Warrior can swap from a Rifle inflicting conditions on a single target starting out and then into a 2h Hammer for AoE damage when his foes close in. You could use a 1h Axe & Shield for quick adrenalin building and high damage attacks, drop back out of the way and switch to Longbow for massive fire AoE damage.

So there’s no more breath bar in GW2, going in the water won’t be an annoying hindrance anymore. You can swim across the surface very quickly, but you’re unable to attack while doing so. If you dive under the surface your entire Skill bar will switch to give you 2 new weapons along with entire new skills for those weapons and even your entire utility bar will change based on what you have slotted for underwater combat.

While underwater combat becomes a bit different than while on land, you have access to the entire Z-Axis and you’re able to use spells on the Z-Axis too, not just the X & Y. You might cast a spell that’s a giant beam of light and it will not only damage mobs right where you casted it, but above and below you as well. If you go into the Drowned State while underwater, you’ll get access to a small skill bar that has 4 “Drowning” skills on it. Like the Downed State on the surface, if you manage to kill a mob you will rally back and be able to keep on fighting with all of your skills again. While underwater you can also try to swim to the surface to rally as well, this will give you 25% of your health and you’ll return to your normal state.

You’re also able to pull enemies from the land into the water and this opens up entirely new sets of attacks for them that they otherwise wouldn't have. There’s also tons of content to be found underwater with the Dynamic Event system, not only this but you’ll find entire cities and civilizations as well.

Video version:

When underwater you’ll be diving into the depths and it might become difficult to tell which way is up or down. As you descend the edges of your screen will become darker and as you ascend that darkness will fade. This makes it quite easy to tell which direction you're headed.

Holy Trinity

In pretty much every MMO, everyone has a defined role. These roles are Tank, DPS, and Healer. Where based on your class/spec you do one of these roles and only that role. Those roles don't exist in GW2. GW2s combat is built with control, damage, and support in mind. Every player will have the responsibility of doing everything; no one gets a pass and is allowed to not help out. While everyone has their own individual heal and some Professions might have another healing spell that they can throw down as an AoE, it isn’t something you can rely on and is more of a “when it’s absolutely needed” kind of thing. You’re not able to rely on that AoE heal to save you, you are going to be keeping yourself alive by dodging and paying attention, you’re going to be tanking, you’re going to be doing damage, you’re going to be buffing, you’re going to be debuffing, you’re doing to be resurrecting allies. Situational awareness is one of the most important aspects of GW2.

Playing With Your Friends

MMOs these days are designed so that you might play with a friend if you happen to be on the same quest together or around the same level, if not then you'll have to wait till the level cap and even then there's segregation due to the gear treadmill. In GW2 as soon as you exit the tutorial at level 2, you can go to a nearby Asura Gate and it will take you to the hub city of Lion's Arch. From there you can take another gate to any other capital city in the game and meet up with all of your friends right from level 2. The entire game is built around community, co-operation, exploration, and fun. The whole point of playing an MMO is to play with others and most of all with your friends, right?

Ever start playing a new MMO and your friend is already 30 levels ahead of you making it so you have to catch up to him? Everyone has been in that situation at one time or another. Well, with the sidekicking system this is no longer an issue. If your friend is level 30, he could come back down to the Level 1 areas and play with you, his stats and gear are scaled down to match the area you’re in and he’ll have all of the skills he’s unlocked, just weaker versions of them. When someone goes to a lower level area they’ll still gain a good amount of Experience/Karma/Coin, it’s not quite as much as you’d get from doing on level content, but it’s enough so that you’ll want to go play with your friends.

So what this means is no one will ever be able to blow through content in the game and ruin it for everyone else. This also means that all content will always be relevant, even after content patches and expansion releases.

The first thing that you see when you open the guild tab -- if you currently aren’t representing a guild -- is the Guild Join screen. It shows a brief explanation of what a guild is and lists all of the guilds that you have been invited to. Even if you haven’t accepted an invite, they will still be listed under the Account Guilds drop-down menu. From there you can choose between representing the guild, ignoring the invite and permanently leaving it/removing the invitation.

Once you’ve chosen to represent a guild, you will start to gain influence as you play. The more you socialize and group with your guild during leveling and other activities, the more influence your guild can gain. For instance, the last time [HOT] received influence was when people completed events, engaged in PvP and did soloed content -- nine events were completed for 189 influence, one PvP match was won for 110 influence, and 37 solo activities gave the guild 82 influence.

“But what is influence good for?” you ask. A lot. Below the Roster tab is the Upgrades tab and within it you have four different categories: Politics, Art of War, Economy, and Architecture. Politics represents things such as PvE influence gain buffs, guild emblems, guild armor and weapon contracts and guild party items. Art of War is pretty self-explanatory -- you’ll find WvW and Structured PvP buffs and influence gains, less-costly siege weaponry and suits. Right now there are few upgrades for Economy, but they’re still highly useful for a growing guild. This tree houses your karma, experience, magic find and gathering buffs. Last but not least, we have Architecture. Architecture represents the bones of your guild, the upgrades that truly support your guild no matter what stage of growth you are in. They are things such as your guild bank, bank expansions and the ability to build more than one upgrade at a time.

That’s right, a build queue. Each upgrade takes a certain amount of time to build, ranging from 16 hours to one week. Not to fret, though. If you’re willing to pay the price, you can reduce the build time by 25% for a good chunk of guild influence. If you find yourself a little light on influence, you can always hit up the Guild Promoter in each major city. He’ll sell you some booze to “donate” to the inhabitants of Tyria. How many citizens you influence? How much gold do you have? 100 gold can net you 10,000 influence if you’re willing to spend it.

Put simply, attributes are characteristics that players can invest points into in order to increase their effectiveness. We have four basic attributes – power, vitality, precision, and toughness.

Power: — increased attack damage.

Precision: — increased critical strike chance.

Vitality: — increased health.

Toughness: — increased defense/armor.

The four base attributes of power, vitality, precision, and toughness may be increased through traits and gear, but they also automatically increase as you level. We’ve organized these attributes into offense, support, and profession-specific attributes.

Offense

Prowess: Improves the damage multiplier on critical strikes.

Malice: Improves the damage done by conditions like burning, poison, confusion, and bleeding.

Expertise: Improves the duration of all conditions inflicted by the character.

Support

Concentration: Improves the duration of all boons applied by the character.

Compassion: Improves all outgoing heals that your character does, including self heals.

Profession-Specific Attributes

Each profession has a specific attribute that does something unique for each profession.

Brawn (warrior) — Improves the damage of warrior burst skills.

Willpower (guardian) — Decreases the recharge on all virtues.

Cunning (thief) — Decreases the recharge of the Steal ability.

Empathy (ranger) — Improves pet attributes.

Ingenuity (engineer) — Reduces the recharge on all tool-belt skills.

Guile (mesmer) — Reduces the recharge on all Shatter skills.

Intelligence (elementalist) — Reduces the recharge of the four elemental attunements.

While we were looking into how comparable these new attributes were to precision and power, we found that power was far more valuable than any other attribute. The scaling was exponential, so if a player maxed out power, it would make 200 power equal to about 500 precision. We adjusted the scaling of power to be linear, and then raised base weapon damage for everyone. This gives players the ability to choose between builds that give high spike-damage critical hits, deceptively strong conditions, reactionary critical effects, or classic big-hit power, while remaining competitive with any of them.

We also added the new Healing attribute to take some of the pressure away from toughness being the most important defensive attribute and to create an additional option for players who wanted to emphasize a support role. These new attribute are not directly improved when a character levels up, but are instead part of item and trait customization.

When we first introduced the trait system, it was a flexible way to modify your character that helped build late-game customization and differentiation between characters. The new trait system does the same but does so in a way that makes these decisions easier to understand as well as more character defining.

Trait Points

From level 11 to 80, you receive one trait point per level. This means that every level 80 character will be assigning 70 points to help define their character.

Trait Lines

Every profession has five trait lines, and every line has 30 possible points that a player could allocate to it. Each time you place a point into a line, it improves two of your character’s attributes. The pair of attributes that get improved varies based on profession. For example, an elementalist that puts points into water magic will increase their Vitality and Healing attributes.

The trait lines for each of the professions, as well as the attributes tied to them, are as follows:

Warrior

Strength: Power and Expertise.

Arms: Precision and Malice.

Defense: Toughness and Compassion.

Tactics: Vitality and Concentration.

Discipline: Prowess and Brawn.

Guardian

Zeal: Power and Concentration.

Radiance: Precision and Expertise.

Valor: Toughness and Prowess.

Honor: Vitality and Compassion.

Virtues: Malice and Willpower.

Thief

Deadly Arts: Power and Expertise.

Critical Strikes: Precision and Prowess.

Shadow Arts: Toughness and Compassion.

Acrobatics: Vitality and Concentration.

Trickery: Malice and Cunning.

Ranger

Marksmanship: Power and Expertise.

Skirmishing: Precision and Prowess.

Wilderness Survival: Toughness and Malice.

Nature Magic: Vitality and Concentration.

Beastmastery: Compassion and Empathy.

Engineer

Explosives: Power and Expertise.

Firearms: Precision and Prowess.

Inventions: Toughness and Compassion.

Alchemy: Vitality and Concentration.

Tools: Ingenuity and Malice.

Mesmer

Domination: Power and Expertise.

Dueling: Precision and Prowess.

Chaos: Toughness and Concentration.

Inspiration: Vitality and Compassion.

Illusions: Malice and Guile.

Elementalist

Fire Magic: Power and Expertise.

Air Magic: Precision and Prowess.

Earth Magic: Toughness and Malice.

Water Magic: Vitality and Compassion.

Arcane Power: Concentration and Intelligence.

Necromancer

Spite: Power and Expertise.

Curses: Precision and Malice.

Death Magic: Toughness and Concentration.

Blood Magic: Vitality and Compassion.

Soul Reaping: Prowess and Hunger.

Minor Traits

Investing 5, 15, and 25 points in a single line will award the player a minor trait, which are unique bonuses that are dependent upon the number of points invested as well as the specific trait line in question. Think of these traits as a set of abilities that are designed to work well together and to help suggest a particular build or play style to the player.

For example, an engineer investing 25 points into the Tools trait line will receive one trait that will give him endurance whenever he uses a tool-belt skill, another trait that recharges all of his tool-belt skills when he reaches low health, and a third trait that gives him extra damage while at full endurance.

Major Traits

Investing 10, 20, and 30 points in a single line will unlock a major trait slot for the player. Each line has 12 different major traits that may be slotted into a major trait slot. These are major upgrades to player abilities and are designed to provide a lot of customization.

For example, a thief might slot a trait that drops a field of caltrops every time she dodges, or another trait that gives allies boons whenever she uses her Steal ability, or even another that gives her bonus damage whenever she flanks an enemy.

Training Manual

At level 11 you may obtain an adept’s training manual, then at 40 a master’s training manual, and at 60 a grandmaster’s training manual. The adept manual allows you to start spending trait points but caps the number of points in a line at 10. The master manual ups the cap to 20 points per line. The grandmaster manual allows you to completely fill a line with up to 30 points. Every time you use a training manual, you also receive a refund of all your trait points so you can experiment with your new options.

Re-Specializing

After a character has spent their trait points, they can visit a trainer to reset their traits and refund their previously spent points for a small fee.

We realized that an important part of building a character is some sense of permanence. With this new system, you are flexible enough to change if you really want to, but you should still feel like the choices you made matter while you are out adventuring or slogging your way through a dungeon. In competitive PvP, you have a separately saved trait build and can respec free of charge.

games are the casual side of structured PvP. Hot join PvP can be played from 1v1 all the way up to 10v10. Players can browse through a list of available games, each displaying the current map, the number of players, etc. Players can search by server population or friends list.

Tournaments are the more organized side of structured PvP. Tournament play is 5v5, but matches take place on the same maps that are used for hot join play.

Pickup Tournaments:These single-elimination tournaments wait for 8 teams to join before starting. Once they start, they go through 3 rounds of eliminations, with winners receiving qualifier points.

Yearly Tournaments: These grand tournaments feature the winners from the monthly tournaments slugging it out for the right to call themselves the best PvP players of the year.Player-Run Tournaments: These tournaments will be customized by players, allowing for great flexibility and unique bragging rights.

Guild Wars 2 PvP features different maps that all dramatically alter a single game type called Conquest. In the Conquest format, teams compete over a certain number of capture points. Holding a capture point and killing enemies improves your team's score. The first team to reach the score limit—or the team with the highest score when time runs out—wins the match.

(click on right side image for more pictures)

This is a game mode where 3 servers are pit against each other in a FFA across 4 persistent maps in a place off the world map called The Mists. This is joinable by anyone at any time, 24/7. Each battle lasts 2 weeks and the winner of the 3 servers then gets matched up with 2 other equally matched servers. A world's rank increases as it wins more often. During combat there is no direct way for these worlds to communicate with each other. At launch there will be 1 map that is split into 4 maps, 1 map that is the home map for each server and in the center is a neutral center map. Each map has resources and objectives to capture, things like castles, fortresses, mercenary camps, mines, lumber mills and villages.

These sites, with the management of their capture and defense, allow teams of all different sizes to find a way to participate. For example, larger groups or guilds may take or hold keeps, while smaller group sizes or even individual participants might assist by disrupting supply caravans, weakening defenses, or capturing other objectives that will stop reinforcements. Maps will also be populated with defensively-oriented NPCs to set the pace of gameplay, but their presence is to allow defending players a chance to join in the defense as opposed to being a credible or reliable threat.

Resources gained from mines and lumber mills are used to rebuild walls, create siege engines, and generally defend the world's fortress. Once they move to the central map, players joining will start at their world's portal keep. From there they may continue to capture objectives while dealing with players from other worlds seeking to invade opposing home maps via the central map zone. Thus, play will travel between the central map and home maps as worlds gain and lose footholds such as keeps and strategic points that influence bonuses for their home world.

General

The world map consists of each home base surrounding the Eternal Battlegrounds. Each home base is identical, so a Keep on the red home base will be in the same spot on the blue home base. However, some minor (yet important) differences exist to prevent any confusion on the battlefield.

The World Vs World map is separated by small districts of land, such as “Dreaming Bay”, or “Veloka Slope”. Typically, one capture point is assigned to a single chunk of land. For example, there will only be one Guard Tower in the vicinity of “Veloka Slope”, and while your character is present in the area, that location will be displayed near the compass map to allow for fast and easy location awareness for you and your team. It’s also important to note that a these districts are completely unique in name, so you don’t have to worry about zoning to the Red map instead of Blue map. “The Titanpaw” on the Green home map will be named “The Godsword” on Red’s map and “The Spiritholme” on Blue.

Scoreboard

The scoreboard displays important information on the server’s current score, as well as capture points, world bonuses, and the time until the next set of points is tallied. These bonuses are present in both World Vs World combat as well as the standard PvE world. Points are tallied and thrown into a single score pool that will be used to determine a victor. They are also placed into a bar that shows the amount of points each team needs to gain their next world bonus. The eight bonuses consist of the following:

Artisan - Increased chance of crafting critical success.

Energetic - Faster endurance gain.

Scavenger - bonus gold per kill.

Robust - Maximum health increase.

Gatherer - Chance for additional gathering node uses.

Defender - Increased defense against monsters.

Wisdom - Bonus experience per kill.

Medic - Healing effectiveness increases.

These points are determined by how many Supply Camps, Guard Towers, and Keeps each team captures throughout the two week battle. Stonemist Castle also provides a sizeable chunk of points for the team skilled enough to take it from the enemy.

Capture Points and Upgrades

There is a total of 1 Castle, 12 Keeps, 16 Towers and 24 Supply Camps for the whole of the WvWvW map.

Each capture point gives a team a certain amount of points that is tallied at various intervals. These point totals will then determine the winner as well as provide the previously mentioned world bonuses.

Supply Camp = 5 points

Tower = 10 points

Keep = 25 points

Castle = 50 points

Stonemist Castle

A unique location located in the center of the Eternal Battlegrounds. This is the only castle in the entirety of World Vs World, but it what it lacks in numbers it makes up for in size, fortification, and point total. Based on the press videos showcasing the massive piece of architecture, I’m going to say this is going to be the place to own. A place for the cool kids, if you will. Now, despite its seemingly endless pool of supply (The last video I saw was near the 1,500 supply mark O_o), and arguably having more NPC security than The White House, I started to see some of the possible downsides to owning Stonemist.

For one, everybody and their great grandmother is going to want to get inside those walls. Seriously. What says “You can’t get me! Nah nah nah!” more than a giant castle in the middle of the main map? Sure, you could be safe within the walls, but don’t forget about the siege equipment available for purchase. By the looks of it, trebuchets can get some insane distance, so you can bet your bottom silver coin that players are going to get crafty with their equipment placements. Also, players can apparently kick down walls to gain entrance to a capture point. This no doubt will include the almighty Stonemist Castle, so you’d better watch out for cracks in the walls so you don’t get ninja’d (theif’d?) out of your prized location.

Supply

Supply has a fair amount of uses within World Vs World. It can be used to repair walls, build siege equipment, as well as upgrade your defenses. The source of this supply is the supply camps scattered throughout the world map. It is then carried off to towers and keeps to prevent their stock of supply from running low.

Dolyaks can also be killed to prevent supplies from reaching their destination.

A Blueprint Merchant is also available at various map entrance points as well as inside Towers or Keeps if that specific NPC upgrade has been chosen. The NPC sells various siege equipment in exchange for copper, silver, or gold coin pieces. This is where supply really starts to become the backbone of your offensive assault in World Vs World. Remember, these numbers are subject to change as the game enters different stages of beta, so just because a Golem requires a certain amount of supply to build doesn’t mean it’s going to be the same way come official release.

Combat Strategy and Teamwork

World Vs World is a huge warzone that lets hundreds of players duke it out until the bitter end. I’ve seen people post their worries of teams getting ganked and that there will be no hope for the small team of five to do anything significant to turn the tide of battle. Sure, one team, no matter how organized or skillful, will probably not be able to do much good against the giant mob of invaders parading around the map eating up everything unlucky enough to cross it. However, I think this is where a great deal of strategy will come into play.

Instead of trying to deal with the mass of 18 players all at once, split up into several smaller groups and capture surrounding supply camps and guard towers. One single group of enemy players are will have no trouble dispatching a team a third its size and taking over the guard tower they were attempting to capture. But what about the other three teams your world split up into? If they’re organized and have a clear objective in mind, they can triple the output of the larger mob. Capturing points is the basis of the format, and it’s what you do to win. The blood of your enemies is your path to victory instead of your main objective.

Double sword icons shown throughout the map point out important battle points. Conversely, a shield is represented to let players know defense is needed somewhere in the area. I am beyond relieved a system like this exists. After watching the press videos and seeing just how massive the maps really are, I couldn’t help but feel a bit worried everybody would be wandering aimlessly looking for action for hours on end. Thankfully that isn’t the case. I know I don’t want to be swimming underwater looking for Quaggan while the enemy is busy laying waste to Stonemist Castle.

Squads!

Mike Ferguson was kind enough to give us some information on squads in the last Reddit questions and answers session. Think of squads as a branch of the existing five player party system. However, unlike parties, squads are less concentrated and allow for more broad control over a large amount of people through the use of waypoints and similar means of large scale communication. This seems like the perfect addition to something as huge as World Vs World, and could be an extremely potent tool when put in the hands of a great leader. Who knows? Maybe you could be the next George Washington of Guild Wars 2!

– At launch there will be 8 dungeons, but don’t fret! This doesn’t mean they’re the same static thing over and over again.Like everything else in the game, ArenaNet is shaking up how dungeons work as well. Every dungeon has a Story mode and an Exploration mode. The Story mode uses concept art and exposition to tell the story similar to the Personal Story. After completing the Story mode of a dungeon, you will unlock Exploration mode. Exploration mode is significantly harder than the Story mode version. Story mode is meant for pretty much any random pick up group, whereas Exploration mode is very difficult content that is meant for a coordinated group of players.(click on image for more screenshots)Whatever results come of the Story mode version will play out in the Exploration version of the dungeons. Each of the Exploration dungeons have at least 3 paths that the group can vote on that will determine what path they take. The Dynamic Event system is also present in both versions of the dungeons, so even if you play through multiple times, that doesn’t mean you’ll see the same exact thing. Bonus events could spawn from player actions, by location or even at random and change your experience.

But what about the loot you ask?

Every dungeon has its own unique weapon and armor sets. The Story mode has the unique weapons and the Exploration mode has the unique armor sets. When you complete a dungeon you'll be given a token that's used as a currency for either weaopons or armor. So rather than grinding a single dungeon 20 times in hopes that you get what you're looking for, you can just take the token and buy exactly what you want.

I recommend to those who can't read the wall of text, to watch the following comprehensive yet succinct videos:

Aggro refers to gaining, controlling and losing the aggression of hostile NPCs. The Guild Wars 2 aggro system is simple - NPCs will select targets based on a range calculation and the character or pet closest to the NPC will hold its attention.

To gain the aggro of a hostile (red outlined) NPC, the player moves into the attack range of the creature. For a neutral (yellow outlined) NPC the player must attack first to gain its attention.

If in a party or controlling a pet, aggro can be controlled by being the closest to the attacking NPC. Unlike many other MMORPG games, there is no requirement to taunt or worry about excess damage taking the attention of the NPC. For this reason the role of a tank, one who is holding the aggro of the NPC, can technically be filled by anyone.

To lose aggro, the player has to move further away from the NPC than another player and/or ally. NPCs also appear to lose aggro once the player has traveled sufficient distance from where they started to attack. Aquatic only NPCs can have their aggro broken by returning to land.

Leveling – In GW2 the level cap has been raised to 80, though like everything else ANet is looking to innovate here as well.

Most MMOs all have a very exponential leveling curve where each level takes progressively longer than the level before it. ANet has designed a linear curve where each level takes only a tiny bit longer than the last so you’re never going to dread stretches of leveling where leveling hits a huge incline.

Their aim is to eliminate that grind feeling. Right from level 1 you’re playing the game, not waiting to hit that one special number that says “okay you can play the game now, for real this time”. ANet has said that once you hit level 30 it will take an average player about 90 min per level past that point.

Soloing – You'll be able to solo, but just not everything. Dungeons will require a group, though that's not to say you couldn't tackle them with less than 5 people or that you couldn't attempt and even win events that you probably shouldn't be able to. Though some events may be VERY tough to beat or downright impossible while solo. I saw a guy playing at SDCC 2011 where he went up against a named wolf and 2 centaurs, they proceeded to tear him apart very quickly. Saw another guy go up against a named mob, got hit for 1500 and then again and he was dead. That’s not to say you COULDN’T win, but it would be a challenge for sure. Thing is with soloing is even while you’re out in the world, you will be running across people and you will be helping each other out because you all have the same goals and you don’t need to be grouped for any of this to take place.

– Every single player in the game can resurrect any other player, so you’re not going to be waiting around for someone else to do it. This can be done in combat, this allows for the pace of combat to keep flowing.

Kill Stealing

– There’s no kill stealing in GW2. Typically when you see another player in an MMO, you dread it. You say “He’s going to take that item before I can get to it!” Well in GW2, you won’t have to worry about that happening. Say you’re killing a mob and someone comes along and starts killing it as well, when the mob dies you both get FULL XP and loot for it regardless if you’re grouped with them or not. ArenaNet is designing a game where you no longer dread seeing other players around you, you WANT to group up with them.

- a cross-profession combo has two important elements; the initiator and the finisher. Think of it like a set and spike in volleyball. One action sets up the combo, and another finishes it.

All combos are initiated by creating an area in the world that changes some skills performed within it. We call these areas “fields” and they come in various flavors. They range from elemental effects—such as fire, ice, and lightning—to other effects like poison, light, dark, and smoke. All fields persist in the world for a time and can be taken advantage of by any number of finishers.

All combos are completed using finishers. There are categories of finishers, and when a finisher category interacts with a field type it creates a combination. All finishers are actions of some kind, including firing projectiles, leaping, and blasting an area. Every finisher can only be modified once, to avoid confusion and stacking. (Stacking was in at one time and was incredibly overpowered.)

So what happens when a finisher meets an initiator? Here are some examples to get you excited. Use Ricochet through a Firewall to get a bouncing axe that has a chance to burn the targets it hits. Leaping Death Blossom through a Symbol of Faith will remove conditions from allies near your target. Stomp inside a Smoke Screen to cloak nearby allies. This is just a small sampling of what you can do with combos, and we leave it to you to find them all and combo to your heart’s delight.

When two players create a combo, we create a floating notification for each player that shows that they did a combo and which skills were involved. Skills also display their field type or finisher type in their description, to help players experiment.

Guild Wars 2 combat is all about dynamic teamwork. We want to make sure that players are working together, and cross-profession combos are another way we encourage this. Almost every weapon has some sort of initiator or finisher which leaves two players ample opportunities to find and capitalize on combos, regardless of profession or other skill choices. All that is left now is for you to find and master them.

Right now when you make a character in an MMO you are just another person coming down the assembly line. ArenaNet is looking to put the RPG back into MMORPG and this is where your Personal Story comes in. At character creation you will shape your character’s Biography.

Each Profession has its own question that will affect your character’s appearance, your Personality question will affect conversational options with NPCs, and there are 3 questions you must answer that are Race specific. Depending on what you answer here will directly influence your character’s story in the game. Between all Race & Profession combinations along with each of the Biography questions, there are currently 7,047 different possible combinations for your character’s story.

So how does this affect the game? Every player gets an entire quarter in their race’s city that will change based on your choices in your story and is aesthetically unique to your race. The section of the city that you get is instanced to allow for your decisions in your story to be seen. There are thousands of possible variations in the stories, though only you can actually make any choices. Though that doesn't mean you can't bring friends along into your Personal Story missions and vice-versa. If you go and help someone out with their Personal Story missions, the more people in the party the harder the content gets and gives more Karma.

Personality is how you roleplay in GW2. It’s a mechanic that defines how people in the world see your character. Initial personality is set at character creation using the biography questions and is later refined by the characters last 100 interactions with the NPC's of the world. The game keeps track of three aspects: ferocity, dignity, and charm.

Actions and dialogues may change a character's personality to strengthen one of those aspects; for example, a character who bullies a NPC would increase his ferocity, and soon be known as barbaric. Likewise, a character who often cons NPCs may be known as a scoundrel. Personality may also determine how NPCs react to the character, so merchants may cower behind their stalls when approached by someone of the barbaric archetype. One of the earliest available titles in the game is related to the chosen personality type. It's also possible to use karma to impose a character's personality on the world for significant rewards.

Karma is a non-tradable reward that you can obtain through doing Personal Story related content as well as completing Dynamic Events. You then use Karma to help develop your character’s Personality. Nearly everything that you can buy with Karma can also be bought with coin. Karma is also used to purchase gear such as weapons/armor as well as consumables such as Salvaging Kits for crafting and possibly food for stat buffs.

Story & Lore

- In the 250 years since the events of Guild Wars, the Elder Dragons have awoken. As massive forces of nature, these dragons have wrought destruction across the continent of Tyria, forever changing its face and its inhabitants. The player is thrown into the midst of this destruction As the game progresses, organizations can be joined and situations approached in different ways; these influences change the experience of the story as it advances towards the final confrontation with the Elder Dragon, Zhaitan. There are therefore thousands of different story permutations possible.

The Shatterer - The Shatterer is a rank given to Kralkatorrik's lieutenant and a champion. At any given time, there's only a single dragon of this rank; once a Shatterer dies, the title moves on to a different dragon. The Dragonbrand is where The Shatterer currently resides and is where players will fight him at around level 50.

Primordus - Primordus was the first of the Elder Dragons to awaken in Tyria. Primordus' original resting place was in a cavern, deep underground, where it was assumed by the asura to simply be a statue emitting a high amount of magical energy. For this reason, they built the Central Transfer Chamber near the dragon. Primordus was initially supposed to awaken in 1078 AE, but upon the defeat of its most powerful general, the Great Destroyer, its awakening was delayed by two generations, until 1120 AE. After its rise, the other Elder Dragons began to stir, one by one. He currently resides in The Depths of Tyria, a subterranean network beneath the surface.

Jormag - Jormag awoke in the Far Shiverpeaks in 1165 AE, causing the kodan to flee the icy seas and battling the norn inhabitants there. His rise caused earthquakes that cracked and shattered the northernmost lands, allowing the icy northern ocean to flood through and create new, inland seas. These new inland seas are now inhabited by some refugee kodan Sanctuaries. Jormag also caused a rise in the tide of the northern ocean which capsized and tore apart many other of the kodan's iceburg cities. Jormag likely still resides somewhere in the Shiverpeaks.

Deep Sea dragon - The currently unnamed Elder Dragon from the depths of a sea has the power to create tentacled creatures from the water. Through its powers, it has been creating servants from every lake and river around its location. Its whereabouts and all other details are currently unknown. This particular elder dragon does not have a major influence on the world of Tyria, which accounts for the lack of information regarding the subject. This lack of information is meant to give a sense of foreboding for the open oceans. There has been mention of the krait, quaggan and other sea-creatures have been driven out of the sea by an "underwater dragon".

Zhaitan - Zhaitan is the name given by dwarven legends to the Elder Dragon of Orr. For an unknown length of time it slept beneath the land of Orr. In 1219 AE it awakened from its slumber. The force of its return to life raised the sunken peninsula to the surface, killing corsairs that had come to the scattered islands in search of safe harbors or Orrian riches. The return of Orr also triggered earthquakes and tidal waves that would devastate many coastal regions, including the Battle Isles and Lion's Arch.

Zhaitan used its powers to take control of the wandering dead of Orr, forming a massive army. It then raised the sunken ships of the corsairs and manned them with their now undead crews, creating a formidable navy to match its army. The dragon's navy stretched from the newly risen Orr to the beaches of the Ring of Fire, across the Strait of Malchor, blocking off passage to Cantha. For the past century Zhaitan's undead navy has ensured that no one may enter or leave Tyria, anybody attempting to do so being added to the dragon's numbers. Zhaitan rules over his armies from his lair in the corrupted ruins of the holy city Arah.

Kralkatorrik - Kralkatorrik is the Elder Crystal Dragon and is the most recent Elder Dragon to wake. It is a thousand feet tall and its wingspan easily blocks out the sun. It has the power to corrupt anything organic with its breath, including foliage. The dragon awoke in 1320 AE in Grothmar Wardowns within the Charr Homelands, where it was confused with a mountain; then flew south over the charr territory of Ascalon and the Blazeridge Steppes, creating the Dragonbrand in the process.

When Kralkatorrik flew, a terrible storm of black clouds and lightning was formed around its body. The lands under its flight path that were touched by its golden breath turned black and the plants and animals turned into the branded - crystalline life forms of their former self. Currently, it occupies the northern Crystal Desert, where it landed in the vicinity of Glint's lair and the Tomb of the Primeval Kings. It is also one of the forces preventing movement into Elona for all except the Order of Whispers.Kralkatorrik is often referred to as both a hurricane and sandstorm. It has the ability to create and even become the latter.

- An order is a multi-racial organisation which is dedicated to combating the awoken Elder Dragons. In Guild Wars 2 there are three orders, one of which the player joins as part of their personal storyline and which determines a significant portion of the higher level parts of that story. Each of the orders have their own philosophies about what tactics will ultimately defeat the dragons. While they are rivals at times they recognize that protecting Tyria is the most important goal which they each share.

The three orders are:

Durmand Priory - Durmand Priory is a scholarly order dedicated to protecting knowledge and lore. Named for the monastery which houses their archives, members of the Durmand Priory offer services as advisors, tutors and chroniclers across Tyria. They are willing to share their gathered knowledge but do so cautiously.

Durmand Priory is one of three multi-racial orders who are looking for ways to combat the Elder Dragons. They hope that intellect, or some lost piece of knowledge, can save the world from the rise of the dragons.One of Durmand Priory's major contributions to modern day Tyria is the New Krytan alphabet. A single language not only allowed the scholars to order their vast stores of knowledge and communicate among themselves, but all of the races to communicate using standard means. Durmand Priory championed literacy throughout Tyria so now most Tyrians can read.

Order of Whispers - The Order of Whispers is a secretive ancient Elonian order. They work behind the scenes to safeguard the world against the rise of the Elder Dragons and free and restore the troubled Elona. Its members, often spies, thieves and agents, operate within every Tyrian nation sometimes to the highest levels. Their extensive network is able to gather information from everywhere, even areas blocked to travel, such as Elona which has long since been isolated under Palawa Joko's rule.The Order of Whispers is one of three multi-racial orders which players join as part of their personal story. They believe there is no way to physically destroy or negotiate with the Elder Dragons so the only way to counter them is to find a way to send them back to sleep.

Vigil - The Vigil is one of the multi-racial orders that the players may join. It was founded by the charr General Almorra Soulkeeper shortly after the creation of the Dragonbrand, and is a militant force that acts straightforward in its actions and is combating the Elder Dragons. It is known to have a base in Lion's Arch along with having its main base at the Vigil Keep, located in the Shiverpeak Mountains. The Vigil believes that the only way to defeat the Elder Dragons is to unite the races of Tyria.

"The Vigil is a powerful fellowship of individuals bound by an oath to defend those in need, fight against the darkness, and offer help to those who cannot aid themselves. Anywhere the Elder Dragons send minions, the Vigil will face them and stand against their spread. The Vigil wants to face the enemy directly, testing Zhaitan's power in the hope that such methods can one day be used against the dragon itself. They believe that the Elder Dragons grow more powerful as each day passes, and that those who do not fight now are giving the world away by standing passively aside. Those who dislike the Vigil's methods call them idealistic, but they are not naive. These crusaders understand that the world is a dangerous place. They intend to be an army of light against the onslaught of darkness."

If you are completely lost when it comes to Guild Wars 2 crafting, then you must check out this Complete Beginner Crafting Guide :

Crafting professions are called Disciplines which you can have 2 activated at any given time on a character. You can switch to any of the other 6 at any time for a fee and the good news is if you obtain recipes and skill points in any Discipline, you will retain everything even if you switch out of it. The more skill points you have in your Discipline will determine the fee when switching from one Discipline to another. This is to encourage trade amongst players and facilitate communication.There are no gathering professions; anyone can gather anything in the world. Every gathering node in the world is instanced for every individual player, so if 2 people are in the world you can both gather from the same node.

Crafting will be setup so it will match your Profession progress through the game, this makes it so when you craft items you shouldn’t be crafting a bunch of worthless stuff you don’t need.Discovery – The discovery system allows you to find recipes by combining different ingredients together. You have 4 slots in which to place items, say you place a Fang inside one of the slots, it will say “There are 8 possible unknown recipes! Add more compatible ingredients!” So now you would add other ingredients for that would make sense for that crafting discipline and see what happens. If you find a match you’ll be notified at the bottom of the screen and then you can click craft. Once you do that you’ll then learn that recipe and are then able to craft that item. When you craft an item you will gain crafting XP for BOTH disciplines that you currently have. All of the possible items that you have in your inventory that can be used in the crafting process are put into a space on the left hand side of the crafting window. In a tab below the Discovery panel is the recipe panel, in here is the different categories of recipes and a search box making finding what you want to craft quick and easy.

Items created through crafting have unique appearances, but the stats are no better than other gear that you can obtain in other ways.

Each item crafted gives a certain amount of experience which will often result in multiple skill points being granted. As a player advances in skill they automatically learn how to make further basic components, allowing them to discover new recipes, which does restrict the player from creating items beyond their level. The crafting skill level is also used to determine some titles and achievements.

The crafting process cannot fail. Critical success is possible but this does not improve the quality of the item; instead it grants another bonus such as increased experience or a "refund" of some of the materials used.

Recipes tell players what materials are necessary to craft an item. Some recipes are learned as a player's level in a crafting discipline rises, while others are available exclusively from trainers or as loot. However, most recipes must be discovered through experimenting with various combinations of materials. When a new item is created, its recipe is learned for the character, allowing this character to access it at any time. Recipes for items are universal across the player base.

The Marketplace is going to be one single global economy, by that I mean you will be able to trade items with players on servers other than your own. You will be able to buy and sell items without the need to find a buyer or seller first. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Buy Orders, they work like this:

You post an order for a Sword +1 that you’re willing to pay 1,000 gold for. Someone sees your order and if your price is agreeable with them, they fill the order, the item is sent to your mailbox and money is taken from your bank.

While items can only be put up for sale when in-game, it is possible to browse, bid, or cancel auctions and offers when out of-game and logged into a web browser. A sale can be completed whilst the seller is offline, with the coin going into an account bank.The marketplace is capable of displaying the history and trends of item values.There’s also going to be out of game support for the Market on the web & mobile platforms such as Android & iOS(iPad & iPod support too. for more info: click here ).

So pretty much every MMO these days has Achievements, this obviously isn’t a surprise that GW2 has them. Where Achievements differ in GW2 though is it’s an account-wide reward system. So you’ll gain them through things like killing mobs, playing mini-games around the world, mastering weapons, exploration, completing Personal Story stuff, crafting, etc.

Most achievements have Tiers that increase in difficulty but also award you with more points as you complete them. Mainly you’ll be completing these for things like Titles and other cosmetic based items, none of it gives any player a gameplay advantage though. Some achievements will require you to use more than one character to complete, so rolling an alt is encouraged. Following up on this ArenaNet has expanded on what we already knew about Achievements.

Achievements – Long-term goals that reward you with cosmetic items and titles.Monthly Achievements – Mid-term goals that rotate out each month and reward you with gold and experience.Daily Achievements – Short-term goals that reward you with gold and experience. Daily achievements have replaced Daily Feats.

Some achievements can be repeated and will add to your overall achievement point total, for example if you were to obtain the Dungeon Master achievement for completing every explorable dungeon in the game, any subsequent completing of a explorable dungeon will get you some more achievement points.

A lack of persistence is something that bothered people in GW1 so ANet knew that they needed a fully persistent world for GW2. GW2 takes place 250 years after GW1 in the same world of Tyria. There’s lots of places there you can easily recognize from GW1 and I’m really interested in seeing the world because of what I’ve seen in GW1. Even without that attachment, exploration is VERY much encouraged. The Map system in the game allows for you to pay a fee to quick travel to waypoints around the game world as long as you’ve been to them before.

It can be used between each of the major cities in the game that have asuran gates which can teleport you to any other major city with a gate for free. This allows friends to quickly meet one another when starting a new character even if they are of different races. Asuran gates are also said to be used for certain story-specific areas, and may be used to travel to locations players have not yet explored. This allows good (or at worst, neutral) relations to be maintained with the other races, aiding the asura in their master scheme to eventually dominate the other species.

Limitations

Travel using asura gates has a few restrictions. Most prominently, gates cannot be instantly tuned to any location, and larger jumps often require a greater amount of energy and time to prepare. For example, one of the asura gates at Divinity's Reach leads to Ebonhawke, but only after noon, and a traveler in Lion's Arch would not find a gate leading to Ebonhawke at all. For this reason, and as the process deviates from core trade routes for all races, the asura ask for a large amount of compensation for the considerable effort needed to re-tune a gate. Also, any items exposed to Orr or the Dragonbrand may be seized before travelers may pass through the gates, along with any items considered illegal in either the departure point or arrival point. The asura only allow the use of their gates for peaceful purposes, and will not allow travelers passage for reasons considered unlawful on either side of the gate.

Broken gates

Whilst all the major cities have managed to maintain their respective gates,players may come across broken or discontinued gates in the wilderness. These gates are not all beyond repair; should they be repaired and reactivated they will lead back to labs and other places lost long ago.

Waypoint travel occurs between disparate points (10 to 20 per zone) on the map called waypoints, which when downed or defeated can act as resurrection points. However, these carry a small fee for use both when a player is alive, or in either of the aforementioned conditions, and only those which a player has previously encountered may be used, unlike asuran gates. This fee isn't present in cities, and the cost depends on the point of origin and a character's distance from the destination; travel within a city is free, while longer distances will incur larger but relatively modest fares (the fee to revive at a waypoint costs the same as normal map travel).

The waypoints look like floating stone markers that players can travel to once activated. While exploring the world, locked waypoints become visible on the player's map and compass. Travelling close to a waypoint will unlock it for that character and for a small fee, players can instantly travel to the waypoint using their map.

There will be a city for all 5 races in the game in which you start by after character creation. There’s also a large hub city called Lion’s Arch that connects all of the 5 other cities together through an Asura Gate. You’ll be able to use the gate as soon as you’re out of the “tutorial” which should be around level 2, you can then travel to any other city from there to play with your friends.

The Free City of Lion's Arch is a pirating city in Kryta where the architecture has been described as mostly overturned boats and other old re-purposed nautical equipment. Once the seat of power and the main trading city of Kryta, Lion's Arch was destroyed by flood when Orr rose from the ocean. After the flood water receded, it was rebuilt by mercenaries and corsairs, where it still exists today as the Guild Home and a melting pot to fighters of all races.

Lion's Arch also contains a portal to the Mists that all races can use. There are currently only a few known portals. One is in Tomb of the Primeval Kings, which was corrupted by Abaddon, and it is located seemingly near where the Dragonbrand ends. Another portal is in the Tomb of Drascir, deep in charr territory, and yet another portal can be found on the Battle Isles, which was sunk by the flood caused by Zhaitan's rise.

Player versus Player will likely operate out of this city and may be tied to the Lion's Arch arena where criminals choose to fight and possibly gain their freedom than to waste away in prison.

Rata Sum is the capital city of the asura and is in the form of a giant, floating cube. When the Great Destroyer drove them from their homes in the Depths of Tyria 250 years ago, they arrived at the ruins of some previous civilization, setting up geomystical generators for power within these already fortified confines and establishing the area as their new capital. The aesthetic sensibilities of these ruins are reflected in modern asuran architecture. Originally a hastily erected outpost protected by ruins.

Home instanceThe home instance is a portion of the character's home city which is instanced so it can be personalized for the character. The instance is an area around the size of a city block and includes a house or the racial equivalent, a few streets and a merchant area among other city things. The home instance updates constantly as a character progresses through the story, including the addition of special NPCs and merchants who will be different for different characters depending on who was met and befriended during the character's travels. If a party enters a home instance, they will go to the party leader's instance. About 10% of the capital city is part of the personal instance, the other 90% is persistent and the same for all players on the server.When a player enters the home instance of another race alone they see a basic version of the instance.

Divinity's Reach is the capital of Kryta and home for the humans. Members of all races of humanity live here, some of whom have been exiled or are unable to return to their homelands. Built on Divinity Coast, in the province of Shaemoor, it is described as "a breathtaking monument of white parapets and high, pale towers". The royal family and Senators rule from here. It became the capital when the surfacing of Orr flooded Lion's Arch, the previous capital. It has become the bastion to human civilization and culture and is defended by the Seraph.

The city itself is made of heavy stone and mortar contrasting with the wilderness that surrounds the city. It was built with a large underground crypt, which are lined with bones of dead humans and contains the tomb of Blimm. The crypts are accessed via the Skull Gate and requires paperwork to access legally.

The city is best described as a cultural melting pot, housing refugees from Ascalon, Cantha, Elona and even people of Orrian descent (although for these people, their heritage is rarely made public). The city is circular in design and divided into six sections and the central palace. The Ascalonians, Canthans, Elonians, and Krytans each have their own districts in the city, and the other two districts belong to stores and festival activities. The Ascalonian district is known to contain a hospital for soldiers of Ebonhawke. The Salma District is the home instance for a human player.

Divinity's Reach has a year-round carnival in one of the six districts, which contains Uzolan's Mechanical Orchestra, and could be used for minigames and holiday events.

The Black Citadel Upon the overthrow of the Flame Legion, the Iron Legion was granted control of the conquered kingdom of Ascalon by the other victorious legions. They built their main fortress-city, the Black Citadel, on the human ruins of Rin. The wreckage of that destroyed city can still be seen among the foundations of the citadel. While the Iron Legion is officially in charge, Blood and Ash Legions both have a major presence in the city.

As the Iron Legion is the most technologically skilled of the charr legions, its city is a vast foundry and center of industry. The Black Citadel is dominated by the huge Imperator's Core, a great spherical structure that houses the headquarters of the three legions, the offices of the tribunes, and the war council, where the legions meet to plan strategy. The Iron Legion Imperator, Smodur the Unflinching, oversees all of this and coordinates the charr in Ascalon with a veteran's eye.

Hoelbrak - Hoelbrak is the largest of the norn settlements that were built after the servants of Jormag drove the norn from their homeland in the Far Shiverpeaks. Hoelbrak was originally the hunting lodge built by Asgeir when he led his people south to this location, and the fang he took from Jormag was placed in the center. Young norn test their strength against the tooth, and it is said that the one to break it will signal the time for the norn to reclaim their lands. A vast sprawling encampment has grown around the hunting lodge, and Hoelbrak now serves as a central meeting place for the norn.

This outpost is dominated by five gigantic structures: the Great Lodge, holding the fang of Jormag, and four lodges dedicated to the Spirits of the Wild: Wolf, Bear, Raven, and Snow Leopard. Here the norn seek wisdom and commune with the spirits. It is located in the Shiverpeak Mountains and is surround by the Wayfarer Foothills.

The settlement is currently under the care of Knut Whitebear and the settlement that has been erected around the lodge now forms the hub of activity for the norn, and those wishing to meet them. The settlement is the safest place around, as so it is from here that hunts are organized, friends meet, and ale moots are held.

The Grove, also known as the Mother Tree, is the birthplace of all sylvari. It is located in the Grove.Two hundred and fifty years ago the Shining Blade warrior Ronan discovered a cavern filled with strange seeds. He managed to steal one from the plant-like guardians and intended to show it to his family on returning home. However, when he returned to the Tarnished Coast he found that his entire village had been destroyed by the mursaat. He buried his family and planted the seed on their graves, swearing to never fight again. Soon after he was joined by a centaur called Ventari. Ventari had sought to foster peace among the warring clans of his people but had failed and chosen to seek a place of solitude to live out the rest of his life. It was he who took care of the tree after Ronan's death. Before Ventari died, he wrote down his life's lessons and teachings of peace and harmony on a marble tablet and placed it at the base of the tree. The tablet seems to have had a huge effect on the sylvari's development and thinking.

Every city will have activities that fit in with each unique style of a city. Activities will be games in which you can play at any level as they put everyone on an even footing. Some activities are "hot-joinable" others require you to wait in a queue. Winning activities will net you rewards such as rare skins for armor or weapons. There's about 30 activities in game currently.

Extended Experience – So not only will you be able to take care of your Marketplace affairs while not in game, you can also go as far as to see a real time version of the game map showing you Dynamic Events as they happen, you can see where your guildies are and even chat with them. ArenaNet is building a database and architecture that will allow you to view any person’s character sheet in the game, you’ll be able to check up on gear, stats, items, where the items came from, and even Personal Story elements. Mobile users will be able to even ping the minimap to help out newer players if they’re having trouble finding their way around. All of this will be available to users through the web and Mobile devices.

Gems are the currency that’s bought and used to purchase microtransactions.

We have a new player-driven market that allows players to trade gold for gems and gems for gold. If you want something, whether it’s an in-game item or a microtransaction, you ultimately have two ways to get it: you can play to earn gold or you can use money to buy gems. We think that’s important, because it lets more players participate on a level playing field, whether they use their free time or their disposable income to do it.

MMO veterans will note the similarities of our system to EVE Online’s PLEX system. As in that case, our system takes gold trading out of the hands of real-money trading (RMT) companies and puts it directly in the hands of players.

Hall of Monuments

Earn special Guild Wars 2 rewards based on your achievements in the original Guild Wars and Guild Wars: Eye of the North. Hall of Monuments

One of the key features is the ability to tie any audio cue (including music) to our game’s dynamic event system. For example, if a fort comes under attack by centaurs, you might hear the music change to increase the tension of the situation. Even beyond this, the music system will work intelligently whenever you’re out in the world. By analyzing nearby friends and enemies and keeping track of what everyone is doing, it tries to gauge what’s happening in the world, and will switch up soundtracks accordingly, while still trying not to make the transitions too frequent or jarring

Finally, no matter how fantastic a game’s music is, when you hear the same music for the thousandth time, you start wanting to change things up a bit. Many players will simply turn the game music off and play their own collections. The problem is that an external music player has no context as to what’s going on in-game. Guild Wars 2 will offer a solution for this as well. We’re giving players the option of choosing external music playlists that the game’s audio engine will use as a replacement for the default in-game music. Players can choose different playlists for background ambience and battle music, for instance. Additionally, when appropriate, such as during cinematics, the game can revert back to in-game music temporarily to give the best possible cinematic experience, then resume the custom playlist when it’s done.

We’re creating a gigantic world, and we want it to be filled with the sounds you’d expect in a living, breathing environment. The sheer quantity of sounds required is staggering. Every single critter in the game, from chickens running around underfoot to a huge creaking Oakheart trudging through the snow will have a complete and unique set of sounds. When a warrior in full plate mail runs by, he will sound very different than an elementalist in her cloth armor. In Guild Wars 2, much of the natural ambience of the world actually comes from the creatures, characters, and players all around you. You’ll hear frogs croaking as you approach the edge of a river, but perhaps only in the early evening hours. The world ambience shifts and changes over the course of the day instead of simply playing repetitive loops.

Voice Acting - A small tidbit I forgot here, there's about 60 feature films worth of dialogue recorded for the game.

Jeremy Soule – Last but certainly not least, this man is the John Williams of video game music. You know him from games such as:

The humans of Tyria are an embattled race. Over the past three hundred years, they have lost much of their territory. Old enemies and new races threaten traditional human lands on all sides. Yet the human race survives, defending their remaining lands and maintaining the human spirit as they have for centuries. Their greatest city, Divinity's Reach, shines as a beacon of hope for the people of Kryta and beyond – even those dwelling deep within charr territory. The human legends are indelibly imprinted on the souls of all the races of Tyria, be they friend or foe. For more info check out this thread: Human Lore.

The norn are a race of valiant, shape-changing barbarians. Boisterous, strong-willed, and passionate, the norn are an independent people that swear fealty to no single being. They thrive in their mountain stronghold by the sharpness of their senses, the quickness of their wits, and the strength of their massive forearms. They are guided in this world by their Spirits of the Wild, who embody the virtues of the mightiest beasts. As a people, they are quick to anger, even quicker to smile, and treat each new day as a personal challenge. They drink and feast and hunt with equal gusto, and fear few things. They are steadfast allies and implacable foes. For more info check out this thread: Norn Lore.

The feline charr of Tyria are a victorious race challenged by their own success. They have survived defeat, oppression, and civil war. They have returned, reconquered, and rebuilt their original homes. Their mighty fortress, the Black Citadel, dominates the surrounding ruins of the human city of Rin, and their non-magical technology is the mightiest in the land. Yet despite their success, they are challenged by divisions among their people, the power of the Elder Dragons, and the ghosts of their own victories. For more info check out this thread: Charr Lore.

They may be short in stature, but this subterranean race of magical inventors are intellectual giants. These incredibly intelligent beings use their knowledge and skill with magic and crafting to assert their natural dominance. In the world of the asura, it is not the strong who survive, but the clever. Other races believe they should rule by virtue of their power and strength, but they delude themselves. All will serve the asura – in due time... For more info check out this thread: Asura Lore.

Long ago, a weary soldier planted a strange seed in the depths of the Maguuma Jungle. For centuries, the Pale Tree grew, branches arching over the forest, until at last--twenty five years ago--it bloomed, and the Firstborn stepped into the world. They were followed by their brethren, season after season of sylvari, wide-eyed with wonder and searching for purpose in this strange land. Shaped first by the Dream that nurtured them before they awakened, the sylvari now travel Tyria seeking adventure and their place in the world… For more info check out this thread: Sylvari Lore.

The elementalist channels natural forces of destruction, making fire, air, earth, and water do her bidding. What the elementalist lacks in physical toughness, she makes up for in her ability to inflict massive damage in a single attack, dropping foes from a distance before they can become a threat. Yet, despite her incredible offensive potential, versatility is what makes the elementalist truly formidable.

Rather than swap weapons to adjust to new situations, the multi-faceted elementalist quickly adapts to new threats by attuning to different elements as needed. When the elementalist attunes to any of the four elements, she receives intrinsic bonuses that continually empower her.

With FIRE attunement, the elementalist can inflict scorching damage on multiple enemies by turning the ground to fire or raining down molten rock from the skies. Why kill just one enemy when you can burn them all? Just by attuning to fire, the elementalist automatically causes flame damage to any foe foolish enough to touch her.

When the elementalist attunes to AIR, she can harness wind and lightning to target specific foes with focused, high-damage attacks. Dazzling bolts of lightning rip from the elementalist's fingertips, and brilliant flashes of light blind her enemies. When an elementalist attunes to air, nearby enemies are continuously pelted with lightning strikes.WATER attunement forgoes the raw damage of air and fire, in favor of controlling an opponent's movement. By creating slippery ice or freezing foes solid, water attunement ensures that the battle is always fought on the elementalist's terms. Nearby allies receive continuous healing from an elementalist who is attuned to water.

In the most dangerous situations, the elementalist relies on the powerful defense of EARTH attunement. An earth elementalist uses the ground under her feet to defend herself and her allies, turning flesh to stone, destabilizing foes with seismic shocks, and destroying threats with volcanic eruptions. Earth attunement automatically confers magical protection to the elementalist.

Elementalists have a number of special spell types:

Glyphs — These arcane spells enhance or modify the natural power of the elementalist. She uses the Glyph of Elemental Power to increase the damage, range, and duration of her spells.

Signets — Signets provide an ongoing benefit to the elementalist, but can also be activated for a greater effect. An elementalist equipped with the Signet of Earth has increased damage resistance, but activating the Signet sends out a wave of stone, stunning nearby enemies.

Conjure Spells — The elementalist uses Conjure spells to summon useful items and potent weapons that she or other party members can use. For instance, she uses Conjure Flame to create a fiery rock to hurl at the enemy.

Area Spells — Using Area spells, the elementalist creates hazards and mayhem all over the field of battle. The elementalist fires lava arrows in a cone-shaped blast or creates walls of fire that scorch any enemies passing through.

Check this video if you hate wall of text:

Masters of mechanical mayhem, engineers tinker with explosives, gadgets, elixirs, and all manner of deployable devices. They can take control of an area by placing turrets, support their allies with alchemy weaponry, or lay waste to foes with a wide array of mines, bombs, and grenades.

Like elementalists, engineers use a single weapon set at a time, but they complement this weapon set by equipping special utility and healing kits. These kits provide the engineer with special weapons and backpacks loaded with a full set of skills to replace their current weapon skills.

Weapon Kits - These are utility skills that equip a new weapon in the engineer's hands when activated. For example, the flamethrower kit creates a short-range AOE weapon the engineer can use to overwhelm foes. The flamethrower has skills like Immolate to damage nearby enemies, Air Blast to defend from ranged attacks, and Backdraft to suck enemies into range of the weapon's powerful attacks.

Backpack Kits - When activated, these special utility kits equip a backpack that replaces the engineer's current weapon skills with a set of more specialized skills. For example, a bomb kit puts a backpack on engineers that allows them to deploy bombs with a variety of effects including smoke, concussion, and fire.

Turrets—An engineer can deploy turrets: immobile allied devices that help defend and control an area. When a turret is deployed, the skill in that slot is replaced with its overcharged version. For example, an engineer can deploy a Thumper Turret to cause AOE damage, and then activate the overcharge version of that skill for a big thump attack that knocks down nearby enemies. An engineer can interact with deployed turrets, packing them up and moving them around. This removes the turret—and the option to overcharge it—triggering a short recharge before that turret can be deployed again. Only one of each type of turret can exist at a time.

Tool Belt- An engineer tool belt is a set of special skills above the weapon skill bar. It enhances the effectiveness and functionality of the engineer's utility and heal skills. The tool belt can add a self-destruct skill to turrets or a detonation option to all mines. When paired with the grenade kit, the tool belt allows a grenade barrage; with the med kit, it adds a self-healing skill.

The guardian is a devoted fighter who calls upon powerful virtues to smite enemies and protect allies. As dangerous with a staff as he is with a mighty two-handed hammer, a true guardian is a master tactician who knows when to sacrifice his own defenses to empower his allies to achieve victory.

Each guardian is supported by passive benefits, but he can relinquish those benefits, passing his powers on to his allies. This ability makes the guardian an excellent supportive fighter whether they are leading an assault or defending your party's flanks.

Guardians have developed three virtues that empower them in combat. By wielding Justice, the guardian's attacks can burn his enemies. With Courage, the guardian can shrug off even a mighty blow. Through Resolve, the guardian passively regenerates health, allowing him to wade into the most dangerous situation and come out alive.

Guardians also have a number of special skill types:

Spirit Weapons—The guardian can summon spirit weapons to fight at his side for a limited time. Spirit weapons cannot be attacked by enemies and can be commanded to inflict a powerful attack before disappearing. For example, Hammer of Wisdom can be summoned to fight alongside a guardian, then commanded to knock down an enemy and vanish.

Symbols—The guardian places symbols on the ground, where they inflict damage to enemies or deliver a benefit to allies. Symbols persist for a few seconds and then go away. For instance, Symbol of Faith is a hammer attack that leaves a transient symbol on the ground, giving allies the Vigor boon.

Wards—A ward is a marked area on the ground that stops enemies from passing through while allowing allies to move freely. For example, a staff-wielding guardian can create a Line of Warding in front of him that keeps enemies from reaching the allies behind him.

Aegis—Guardians are adept in the use of Aegis, a removable boon that blocks the next attack. Guardians have access to this boon through the virtue of Courage.

Weapons

The guardian can choose from a mixture of melee and magical weapons. The guardian weapons are:

Main Hand: Mace, Scepter, Sword

Off Hand: Focus, Shield, Torch

Two-Handed: Greatsword, Hammer, Staff

Virtues

Guardians have three special virtue abilities--Justice, Courage, and Resolve--that grant them passive benefits in battle. They can choose to activate a virtue, extending a powerful version of these benefits to their allies, but disabling their own passive ability until the activated virtue has finished recharging. The guardian virtues are:

Mesmers are magical duelists who rely on deception and confusion to keep their opponents in check. Indecision is their greatest ally. Using powerful illusions to distract, they make sure they never go toe to toe with an enemy; they use their powers and tactics to set up an unfair fight.

Just when you think you've figured out what the mesmer is doing, illusions begin to shatter, clones start to fade away, and you realize you've been swinging at empty air all along. It's hard to keep your eye on the real mesmer.

The mesmer doesn't have the brute power of the warrior, or the ranged devastation of the ranger. Instead, the mesmer weaves a web of interlaced illusions, conditions, and phantasmal sources of damage. Through skillful play, mesmers combine these pieces into a deadly puzzle to be solved by their foes, while also helping their allies.

Mesmers create illusions—mind tricks that manifest themselves physically. Most illusions are directed at a specific target, but anyone can see and attack them. They can only exist for as long as that target is alive and can only be dispelled by attacking the illusion itself. A mesmer can maintain up to three illusions at a time, with the oldest illusion being replaced by the newly created one. There are two types of illusions: clones and phantasms.

Clones are illusions that look just like the caster, have the caster's name, and have basic behaviors. Clones have low health and tend to do little damage. For example, a mesmer equipped with a sword has two clone-summoning skills: Leap, which launches him forward, leaving a clone at his location, and Illusionary Leap, which summons a clone at his location that then jumps forward.

Phantasms are illusions that look like the caster but have their own names and carry special illusionary weapons, which look different and have specific behavior. Phantasms are more powerful, having more health and causing more damage. For example, a staff mesmer can summon an illusionary mage that attacks its target and deals extra damage for each inflicted condition.

Mantras are a category of skill that have two phases. The mesmer first activates the mantra, which has a long cast time and replaces that skill slot with an instant-casting skill that the mesmer can then use. Mantras are powerful because many can be charged up before battle and then used in the middle of another spell, without interrupting that spell. For example, Mantra of Pain can charge up into an instant-damage power spike that can be used during a channeled spell, such as the greatsword skill.

A mesmer can use a variety of magical, ranged, and melee weapons, including:

Main Hand: Sword, Scepter

Off Hand: Focus, Pistol, Sword, Torch

Two-Handed: Staff, Greatsword

The mesmer introduces a new condition to our set called confusion. An enemy with confusion on them takes damage each time they activate a skill. This condition stacks in intensity, so the more confusion an enemy has, the greater the damage.

The mesmer has special abilities that can shatter illusions. Shattering will destroy all illusions and create a secondary effect. There are four different shatter skills:

Mind Wrack—Destroys your illusions and does damage to opponents near them.

Cry of Frustration—Destroys your illusions and gives the confused condition to nearby foes.

Diversion—Destroys your illusions and stuns nearby foes.

Reflection—Destroys your illusions and places a barrier around the mesmer, which reflects enemy

A necromancer is a practitioner of the dark arts who summons the dead, wields the power of lost souls, and literally sucks the lifeblood of the enemy. A necromancer feeds on life force, which he can use to cheat death or bring allies back from the brink.

A necromancer feeds on death and decay. Life force is the energy that a necromancer uses to extend his own life. Using specific skills, a necromancer builds up life force by attacking and killing enemies. Rather than going into a downed state when he runs out of health, a necromancer automatically activates the Death Shroud ability. A necromancer can continue fighting in the ghostly Death Shroud form until he either runs out of life force or he gets a kill, rallying back into his own corpse.

Death Shroud is a Form ability fueled by Life Force – a special resource acquired by Necromancers whenever an enemy dies within combat range. There is a small orb that leaves the corpse and flies into the Necromancer, but the visual is not indicative of what is actually an instant effect. Several weapon and utility skills also replenish Life Force as a conditional bonus, and there are enough of them available to build Life Force without requiring any deaths. However, Guild Wars 2 is more lethal than its predecessor, and player death are frequent enough to be a reliable source of Life Force. Activating F1 toggles Death Shroud and steadily consumes Life Force for the duration. You return to your standard form automatically when you run out of Life Force, so the maximum length of your shroud depends on the total Life Force you have stored. You have the freedom to hit F1 and exit the shroud at any time. Re-entry is tamed by a modest cooldown.

The Death Shroud grants four powerful utility skills:

Life Blast: An auto-attack that deals more damage the more Life Force you have.Damage is the quintessential utility, and Life Blast dishes it out in four digits. When your Life Force level is high, this is your best offensive option for consistent, raw damage per second. It can hit in the 2-3k range every couple seconds, allowing you to temporarily step into the role of a primary damage dealer.

Dark Path: Teleport to target location blinding nearby foes upon arrival.Blinks are priceless, and the current Wiki page has this skill with a mere ten second recharge. The blind-on-impact encourages using the blink for initiation, but don’t let that stop you from teleporting around the map and feeling giggly about it.

Doom: Fear your target.Fear in Guild Wars 2 forces enemies to run directly away from you, all the while being unable to perform any actions. Wiki gives this infamous MMO trope a 20 second recharge, with a duration of about three seconds.

Life Transfer: Channel to siphon health from all nearby foes.This is a surprisingly effective way to tank, because the amount of healing and damage increases for each nearby enemy. You’ll see this used in the video below to replenish Life Force from within the Death Shroud.

This separated pair of alternate health and skill bars does not rely on your equipment, unlike the standard health bars that can be modified by your armor and the standard skill bars dependent on your weapon. “Separated” here means any damage you take is dealt only to your active health bar; damage is not shared, and it is not carried over between the two health bars. A single strike of 4000 damage against 100 Life Force will deplete the Life Force and return you to your standard form, leaving your Health unscathed (you do not take 3900 damage).

While employing Death Shroud is straightforward, using it efficiently is a challenge. Your knowledge, experience and technical skill will give you a decisive advantage here, allowing you to gauge how much Life Force to spend for a single fight, how to time it for efficient damage reduction, how to combo shroud skills with your main weapon build, how to manage Life Force at a macro level, and even when to quickly dip in and out of Death Shroud. Mastering Death Shroud is integral to every single Necromancer build or style. It is inescapable. You will find that it’s possible to be successful without it, but you’ll always be better off using it to some degree. A few clips of Death Shroud in action are detailed in the video.

There are not as many weapons available to the Necromancer as most of the other classes because of the extra skills granted by Death Shroud. Still, the Necromancer has more weapons available than the Elementalist or Engineer. By now you may have noticed a correlation between the number of weapons available and the number of skills offered by signature abilities: the more weapons available to a profession, the fewer signature skills available. This keeps the total skill pool for every class about the same. We’ll talk more about this relationship in articles later on in this series.

A. Main Hand

Axe: low range, fast damage (aggressive)

Scepter: long range, damage, utility (supportive)

Dagger: low range, health sacrifice, life stealing (defensive)

B. Off hand

Warhorn: Daze, life stealing (aggressive)

Focus: condition removal, Chill & Vulnerability (supportive)

Dagger: Blind, Regeneration (defensive)

C. Two-Handed

Staff: long range, area damage

By now you know that the Necromancer has a large Health pool supplemented by the shield-like Life Force resource. Several skills take advantage of those resources with two mechanisms familiar to fans of the original Guild Wars Necromancer: health sacrifice and life stealing. The former involves spending some of your Health to pay a skill cost, a feature unique to the Necromancer. The latter involves draining your enemies’ health and replenishing your own for an equal amount. As mentioned above, the Necromancer also has several skills that offer a method to gain anywhere from 2% to 25% Life Force without requiring any nearby death.

Minions have returned to the Necromancer with one very welcome improvement: a fresh corpse is no longer required to summon a minion. All minion summoning skills are in the utility line, so you’ll have to decide which minions to bring and whether or not they are more valuable to your build than a more direct utility spell. Wiki currently lists six different flavors of animated undead of which you may pick three of four utility minions, one elite minion summoned by the elite Lich form, and one healing minion. If you equip Bone Minions, which summons two creatures, in addition to two other utility minions, the healing minion and a few Jagged Horrors from the Lich form, then it’s possible to have six or more minions running around you at any one moment! Yes, the minion master has returned to Guild Wars 2, and may even be a practical build for PvP.

Wells have also made a return as healing and utility options. These familiar point blank area effects linger for a few seconds and come in all varieties, from damage to healing to condition transfer to control. They’re what you’ll be taking when you want to support your allies or hold a location.

New to the Necromancer arsenal are Marks. From Wiki: “Marks are targeted on an area of ground and cause an effect to occur after a period of time. Activating the mark a second time will trigger its effect early.” As you might imagine, Mark spells behave similarly to traps, but some benefit allies as well.

Worthy of a special mention is the utility spell Ghost Armor. There are few, if any, builds that won’t include this powerful defensive ability. For 8 seconds, you take 50% less damage and gain 5% Life Force each time you are struck by an attack. Pop this skill when you come under fire after your first Death Shroud session to extend your life by reducing damage and filling your Life Force back up for a second Death Shroud. The Necromancer has a difficult time escaping from dangerous situations, but skills like this can help him endure instead.

Fans of the original Guild Wars may be surprised to learn that the Necromancer does not actually have much control. They are a resilient profession with two pools of health, potential minions to fight through, and Wells to help them establish territorial dominance. They aren’t completely without control, however, and do have more access to Fear than any other profession, so expect one or two skills per build that are able to disable an enemy. A Necromancer is a master of 1v1 and has many area skills to support a group, but don’t expect one to dispatch foes very quickly. The Necromancer is an attrition profession that plays like a tank – and no, I don’t mean the kind of tank you’ll find in Azeroth. I mean a tank tank: the kind that moves slowly with an army, takes a lot of hits to drop, and is completely wrecking you while doing so. There are several variations to this style that are a little more aggressive, a little more supportive, or a little more defensive depending on the weapons, utility skills and traits that you equip.

The ranger is a jack-of-all-trades and a master of them all as well, relying on his keen eye, steady hand, or the power of nature itself. A master of ranged combat, the ranger is capable of striking unwitting foes from a distance with his bow. With a stable of pets at his command, a ranger can adapt to his opponents' strengths and weaknesses.[/b]

A ranger is accompanied by his pet, a loyal animal companion. Rangers charm pets and then bond with them. A ranger can have up to three pets at his call, but generally speaking, only one pet can be active at any time. Pets' base health, armor, and damage are based on the level of the player that owns them.

Pets are charmed by interacting with juvenile versions of the species you want to charm. There are a variety of Tyrian species that can be charmed, including bears, moas, devourers, and sharks. As you adventure with a pet, it evolves to become more unique and eventually allows you to give it abilities that compliment your tactics.

Rather than manage a unique resource in combat, a ranger will manage his pet, assigning them a behavior from aggressive to passive. A ranger can also manage his pet by giving commands such as "attack," "heel," and "stay."

Rangers have a number of special skill types:

Traps--Traps are utility skills that can be placed at a ranger's current location. When an enemy enters a trap, it is triggered. For example, Spike Trap will cripple and bleed enemies that pass through it. A trap can remain active as long as the ranger chooses to remain close to it. A ranger can only have one of each trap type out at any given time.

Spirits--A spirit skill summons a nature spirit that influences the area around it. For example, Sun Spirit applies additional fire damage to allied attacks inside its influence. A spirit stays out for a short period of time and goes away if the ranger wanders too far away from it. Spirits can be attacked by enemies and removed from the battle. A ranger can only have one of each type of spirit out at any given time.

Weapons

A ranger is mostly a master of ranged weapons, however, he can use sword or greatsword in melee combat. The ranger weapons are:

Rangers now have a total of two terrestrial and two aquatic pet slots. Amphibious pets are able to occupy either terrestrial or aquatic slots. Rangers can now use F4 to swap between the two valid pet slots during combat. This mechanic works even when your current active pet is defeated, allowing a ranger to quickly adapt when a pet is downed or when a situation arises that calls for a new pet. Swapping pets has a cooldown associated with it, and this cooldown is longer if the active pet was downed when the swap took place. A downed pet that was swapped out will be at full health when he is swapped back in. We’ve done a lot of work to make each ranger pet more unique and fill a particular role, which fits perfectly with the fluid, adaptable nature of combat in Guild Wars 2.

Pet Controls

Pets now have two stances: active and passive. In the active stance, if your pet is doing nothing and you engage in combat, your pet will attack your opponent. In the passive stance, your pet will follow you and not to attack unless explicitly ordered to do so. You’ll be able to toggle between these stances by pressing F3.

Ranger pets can be ordered to attack a specific enemy by selecting a target and hitting F1. This action will temporarily overwrite your pet’s current behavior, giving you more direct control over your pet’s actions in complicated combat situations.

Species and Families

Pets no longer evolve. Instead, they are set to the level of the ranger, and their stats and abilities are determined by their species. Each pet belongs to a species and each species belongs to a family. For example, a snow leopard is a species belonging to the feline family of pets. Charming a species unlocks that species for you, allowing you to equip that species into any pet slot whenever you are out of combat. In Guild Wars 2, a single ranger can collect and use every type of pet in the game without having to worry about stables or leveling the pets from scratch.

Each family has three basic skills that define that family. For example, bears are hard to kill, drakes do AoE damage, devourers use ranged attacks, etc. These skills are automatically used by the pet. Each species within a family has a unique skill. For example, polar bears have an icy roar that freezes enemies, while brown bears have a roar that removes conditions. This family skill has a cooldown and is activated by the ranger by hitting F2.

A master of stealth and surprise, the thief is deadly in single combat—particularly when catching enemies off guard. Thieves compensate for their relatively low armor and health by being quick and evasive. They can move through the shadows, vanish into thin air, or steal items from their opponents and use them as weapons. Enemies should watch their backs, or the thief will watch it for them.

While other professions rely on recharge rate for their weapon skills in combat, thieves rely on Initiative. Thieves have ten points of Initiative to use, and they gain back one point every second. Weapon skills cost Initiative points, but they have no recharge time, so thieves can use them back-to-back. This allows the thief to keep their options open at all times or unleash a rapid flurry of powerful attacks.

Thieves make use of a special skill called Steal, which generates a useful environmental weapon in the thieves' hands based on the monster or player that they stole from. For example, when stealing from a moa bird, a thief might get a handful of feathers that they can throw to blind enemies around them.

When using a main hand and off-hand weapon combination, the thief differs from other professions. Their first two skills come from the main hand weapon, while the last two skills come from the off-hand weapon. The final skill, called their Dual Skill, is determined by both weapons. For example, a thief with two daggers will have Leaping Death Blossom as their Dual Skill, but a thief with a dagger and a pistol will have Shadow Shot as their Dual Skill.

Thieves have a number of special skill types:

Stealth: - Thieves can disappear into the shadows. This allows them to become invisible to enemy players and to ignore aggro. When in Stealth mode, the thief can still be damaged, which temporarily reveals them. When a thief is hidden, attacking will break the deception.

Shadow Stepping: -Thieves can get in and out of battle quickly by using a technique called Shadow Stepping. This skill allows them to disappear from one location and then instantly appear at a different location by traveling through the shadows.

Traps: - Thieves use traps to ambush unsuspecting enemies and control areas. For example, Shadow Trap is a trap that puts the thief into Stealth and Shadow Steps them back to the trap's location.

Weapons

The thief has a mixture of melee and ranged weapons. The thief weapons are:

Main Hand: Sword, Dagger, and Pistol

Off Hand: Dagger and Pistol

Two-Handed: Shortbow

InitiativeInitiative is the thief's resource mechanic. A thief has ten points of Initiative that refill at a rate of one point per second both in and out of combat. Skill 1 on their bar is always free, but the other thief weapon skills all cost Initiative instead of having recharge. Thief Heal, Utility, and Elite skills do not cost Initiative and still have a recharge cost.

StealingAbove their skill bar, all thieves have a special skill called Steal that can be used on enemies. It does not actually steal a real item from an opponent, but rather generates an appropriate environmental weapon based on the target. Stealing does not break stealth, and cannot be used often. When a thief steals, it can open up a range of support and control options that are less prominent in his basic skills.

Dual SkillsDual Skills are special skills that thieves acquire in slot 3 of their weapon bar that are based on both weapons they are wielding. A dual skill is determined by both main hand and offhand weapons, and can vary depending on the order. For example, a thief wielding a pistol main hand with dagger offhand (Shadow Strike) will have a different dual skill than a thief wielding a dagger main hand and pistol offhand (Shadow Shot). The shortbow is the one exception to this rule; it does not have a dual skill.

StealthStealth has a limited duration and can be broken in various ways. Most stealth is lost when a player attacks through it. Some stealth breaks when the player moves. While in stealth, a player can still take damage and will temporarily appear in the world when they do.

Shadow SteppingShadow Stepping is a teleport mechanic used by the thief profession to get in and out of battle. A thief may only shadow step where normal movement is possible and may not use it to teleport through a gate or other blocking area.

The warrior is a master of weapons who relies on speed, strength, toughness, and heavy armor to survive in battle. A warrior can shrug off blow after blow to stay in the fight, all the while building up adrenaline to fuel his offense.

Adrenaline makes the warrior more powerful, increasing his damage output with every attack while powering up his burst skill. Each weapon set has a single designated burst skill which a warrior can trigger by spending all his built-up adrenaline to unleash a powerful attack. The warrior can use his burst skill at any time, but the more adrenaline stages he has filled, the more devastating his attack will be. Some burst skills apply more and varying conditions while others simply do more damage.

Each weapon serves a different role, allowing the warrior to customize his play style. Warriors can compliment main hand weapons like swords and maces with a shield, warhorn or dual wielded weapon, but their role is still mostly defined by the main or two-handed weapon.

A SWORD warrior is quick and mobile; he bleeds his enemies as he bounces between them with a Savage Leap.

An AXE warrior quickly builds up his adrenaline and can deliver powerful spike attacks.

A HAMMER warrior pounds his foes and the ground with area attacks that stagger groups of enemies.

A warrior with a MACE disrupts his enemies with powerful stunning attacks, and hits them where it hurts leaving them susceptible to further blows.

A warrior with a GREATSWORD uses his momentum to deliver sweeping area effect damage attacks while gliding around the battlefield.

Warriors with a LONGBOW light their arrows on fire to inflict area-of-effect damage.

The RIFLE is a single-target ranged weapon that a warrior can use to pull monsters or finish off a fleeing foe.

Warriors have a number of special skill types:

Stances — These are toggle skills that let you turn on an enhancement at the cost of energy regeneration. For example, a warrior could hit Berserker's Stance which drains his energy, but gives him adrenaline regeneration. You can easily toggle off Berserker's Stance and send the skill into recharge.

Chains — A set of three skills that share a single skill slot, chains go off in sequence if you are hitting your target. For example, the sword chain skills Sever Artery, Gash, and Final Thrust are all on the same key, so rather than making a sword warrior spend three slots, they stack to fill only one slot. Chains effectively give a warrior two extra weapon skills on a weapon set.

Banners — The warrior calls down banners to buff his allies with attack power. A banner can be picked up and carried around to move the buff, or it can be planted in an area to convey the buff, allowing the warrior to continue fighting. One example is Banner of Courage, which increases the melee damage of allies within its range.

Shouts — Shouts are skills that affect a large area and give bonuses to allies or debuff enemies. A warrior could use the shout On My Mark to lower an enemy's armor and call a target out to allied party members.

Charge Skills — Some skills can be held down to power them up for more impressive attacks. A warrior with a mace can wind up the powerful skill Obliterate and release it at four different power levels to do increasing amounts of damage.

A warrior can use nine different weapons. He can combine any of the nine weapons available to him in 19 different ways. The warrior weapons are:

Main Hand: Sword, Axe, Mace

Offhand: Shield, Warhorn, Sword, Axe, Mace

Two-Handed: Greatsword, Hammer, Longbow, Rifle

A warrior can easily switch between his two active weapon sets in combat as needed, but swapping weapons triggers a cool-down that prevents warriors from constantly flip-flopping between weapons. However, a warrior can equip the Weapon Master trait to circumvent this cool down, and opt for a more wild back-and-forth combat style with both weapon sets. Outside of combat, the warrior can reconfigure his weapon sets before entering an encounter.

Warriors start a fight without adrenaline, and then build one strike of adrenaline with every attack they make. Warriors have three stages of adrenaline that take increasing amounts of strikes to fill - or they can release their stored adrenaline with a burst skill. Each stage of adrenaline also gives the warrior a direct passive damage bonus to every attack.

Burst skills spend all of a warrior's adrenaline. Each weapon has one burst skill that improves at each stage of adrenaline. This improvement can be anything from doing more damage, adding additional conditions, increasing condition duration, or increased skill duration.